Braced for Impact
by Krissiekins02
Summary: Lorelai's life is perfect, but when one twist of fate sends it all downhill...will she rebound? How will her family fare? LC for now, possible eventual LL. Please ReadReview!


Authors Note:  
  
Hey guys! Kris here. This is my first attempt at a real Gilmore Girls fic, I've tried a couple in the past but they've never really gone anywhere.  
  
To set up this story here's what you need to know:  
  
Lorelai did marry Chris when they were 16, and when Rory was 6 they had another girl (Paige) and moved to New York (not city, somewhere...kinda upstate?). Lorelai and Chris are now 24 & 25 respectively and are enjoying married life.  
  
That's about it. This story is based for the most part on a true story as told to me by a friend...so yeah. Enjoy! I love feedback so...yeah.  
  
**************************************************************************** ********  
  
The faint glow of the dashboard illuminated her tear-streaked face ever so slightly, casting an eerie green glow across the front seat of the car. The tears running down her face dripped softly and slowly onto her already wet from the rain T-shirt. Her hair was knotted and soaking wet, cascading in ringlets around her shoulders, the water from it dripping slowly and carefully down her back to pool in the seat under her. She freed one hand from her death grip on the wheel and wiped her eyes as she parked the car under the familiar sign and overhead lighting that she knew and loved. She didn't know why she had driven all the way back in the pouring rain just to come here. But it was somewhere where she was wanted and welcome.  
  
The bell above the front door jingled, and then all was silent. She didn't know where everyone was, but they sure as hell weren't here. At this point she either wanted to be comforted by someone she trusted, or just be alone. She tucked herself into a corner booth and drew her long legs up under her, shivering from the air-conditioning hitting her rain-chilled body. Resting her forehead on her knees, she slowly recapped everything that had just happened in her head, tears still flowing freely down her face.  
  
She didn't even know why the hell she was crying. He'd done nothing but rip the family apart for the past 4 years, and he'd finally gotten what he deserved. But she couldn't bring herself to say that she hated him, and that he DID deserve what he had gotten. He was still her Christopher somewhere deep inside of him...and she'd always love him.  
  
(7 years earlier)  
  
Lorelai groggily opened her eyes and squinted as the bright sun hit her square in the face. She shielded her eyes with her hand as she threw the covers back and her bare feet hit the warm wooden floorboards of the farmhouse. Christopher stirred in the bed and sat up as she was tying the sash to her robe. She smiled at his tousled bed-head hair and his still sleep clouded blue eyes.  
"Morning sleepy head" she said, still smiling. He managed a sleepy smile and stretched, his long muscular arms reaching above his head, and then flopped back down onto the bed again. Lorelai laughed, and clambered across the bed to straddle his middle and pull him up by his arms. He grunted in protest.  
  
"Come on mom. 5 more minutes...please?" he said, pouting and keeping his eyes closed.  
"Nooooo. It's 7:45. We have to leave here by 9 if we're gonna get Rory and Paige to my mother's by 1...and you know as well as I do she'll shit herself if we're late." Lorelai demanded, crawling off of Christopher and pulling the covers with her.  
"Woman, you are pure evil." Chris said getting out of bed.  
"You've got me confused with Emily Gilmore. I'm Lorelai. Lor-e-lai." She retorted, stressing each syllable. Chris laughed and leaned down and kissed her, and then scooted off towards the bathroom.  
  
"CHEATER!" she cried as she ran behind him. "I was up first! I get first shower!" she burst into the bathroom behind him, and jumped in the shower before he could.  
"Oh woman you didn't!" he protested, and pulled the door open and slid in with her.  
"Chriiiiiiiiiis..." she whined. "I'm still tired from last night...lets not do this now..." she said as his lips found the crevice between her collarbone and neck. "Or you know, we could do this now." She said, giving into temptation.  
"Nope. You don't want to." He said, pulling away from her and stepping out of the shower.  
"That was cheap." Lorelai said.  
  
"Yeah but now you can take a cold shower to get your mind off it. I'm gonna go wake up the girls." Chris said as he left the bathroom. Lorelai grunted and proceeded to take a shower and get ready for the 3 ½ hour drive to Hartford. Her mother hadn't been happy when they'd moved to upstate New York, but she'd gotten over it when they promised to bring the girls down to see her every other weekend. This weekend was another sleep over weekend so Chris and Lorelai could have some time alone and do some much-needed couples "bonding". Lorelai turned off the shower and stepped out of it and into her robe. She quickly blow dried her hair and pulled it up into a pony tail before going back into their room and putting on jeans and a T-shirt so she could feed the girls while Chris got ready. She'd have plenty of time to do her hair later.  
  
She pulled on a pair of socks as she hopped down the hall towards the stairs. Chris was downstairs with Rory and Paige, trying to get them to sit still and behave while he made their breakfast.  
"Daaaaddyyyy I want STRAWBERRY pop-tarts! Not CHOCOLATE!" Rory whined from her seat at the table. Paige was in her high chair, contentedly banging away at the tray with a spoon, sending Cheerios flying in every direction. Lorelai laughed at the sight, and walked down the last couple of stairs.  
"Morning Mama!" Eight year old Rory called happily from her seat at the table with her wrong-flavor pop tarts and Charlotte's Web.  
"Mama!" Two-year-old Paige squealed and at the same time raised her arms in request to be picked up. Lorelai scooped up the smiling baby and kissed her on the forehead, brushing the dark curls out of her eyes. Both Rory and Paige had Lorelai's dark hair and the blue eyes that both she and Christopher possessed.  
  
Lorelai shoo-ed Chris upstairs so he could get ready, and she dug a Strawberry Pop-Tart out of the box and put it in the toaster for Rory and then grabbed the milk out of the fridge to make Paige a bottle while she waited for the Pop-Tart to toast. When the toaster popped up Paige squealed in laughter and Lorelai quickly grabbed the now warm breakfast pastry and put it on a napkin for Rory, who had scampered into the kitchen to watch it pop up. Rory took the napkin and Pop-Tart back to the table and her book and hoisted herself back into the chair. Lorelai put Paige back in her high chair, her bottle clamped inside her pudgy little hands, and left her contentedly sucking away at it while she made herself breakfast.  
Thirty minutes later, Rory was watching Mr. Roger's and Paige was crawling around on the floor playing with blocks while Lorelai sat on the couch reading the latest People Magazine and sipping her third cup of coffee.  
  
"Lor? You wanna get ready now?" Chris asked. She put the magazine down, finished off her coffee and got up. He grabbed her around her waist as she walked past and kissed her, the kiss leaving the taste of coffee on his lips and the taste of toothpaste on hers. She smiled and he let go so she could go upstairs. After checking the clock and seeing that it was 8:15 she opted for a low maintenance look for the day. She threw on a pair of black work out pants with a white stripe down the site and a purple tank top and tennis shoes. She quickly straightened her hair, and put on makeup before grabbing the girls' bags out of their room and going downstairs. Chris had cleaned up the kitchen and was ushering the girls out to the car.  
  
"Where are we going daddy?" Rory asked.  
"Grandma's! You and Paige are gonna spend the weekend with them!" Chris said cheerily, catching Lorelai's eye over Rory's head and winking.  
"Yay!" Rory squealed and ran to the car. Lorelai took Paige from Chris and he put the two small duffel bags in the car and went upstairs to get their suitcase. Lorelai fastened Paige into her car seat and made sure Rory was buckled in correctly. She closed the back door to the car and slid into the front seat, reaching over the console to put the keys in the ignition. Chris slammed the trunk of the car down and got in the driver's seat.  
  
"Everyone buckled up?" he asked. Lorelai clicked her seatbelt and smiled at him. He fastened his own and pulled out of the driveway. Their two dogs, Mocha a Chocolate Lab, and Hero a black and white Australian Shepherd, barked at them from their fenced in area as the Hayden family pulled out onto the main road.  
Rory and Paige both fell asleep only minutes into the ride, which turned out to be a God-send since the two hour trip would be filled with fussing and proclamations that they had to use the bathroom. She sighed and leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes.  
"Still tired?" Chris asked with a bemused smile.  
"Nah, just thinking." She said, messing with the seam of her pants.  
"About what? Me?" Chris asked again, winking.  
"Of course Chris, you consume my every thought." Lorelai said with an exaggerated eye roll. "Just...thinking." She concluded quietly. She didn't want him to know what she was really thinking. She smiled and took his hand that was resting on the console and laced her fingers with his and closed her eyes again.  
  
She'd really been thinking about how crazy her life had been so far. Here she was, barely 24 and already with two kids and a husband. It blew her mind. She stared absently out the window, watching the country turn into the city, and before she knew it she'd fallen asleep.  
  
(2 hours later)  
  
Lorelai awoke as the gates creaked when they swung open to reveal the Gilmore Estate. She rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands, and in glancing behind her, saw that the girls were doing the same. She smiled a sleepy smile at Chris.  
  
"Sorry, I'll be better company on the drive into the city." She promised. He patted her arm and parked the car out in front. The two of them got out and while Rory ran ahead, Lorelai lifted the still sleepy Paige out of her car seat while Chris grabbed their bags. Rory impatiently rang the doorbell three times before Lorelai pulled her hand away.  
  
The heavy front door swung open to for once reveal not her parent's maid or her mother, but her father.  
"Rory!" he said happily, squatting down to her level. "How's my girl?"  
"Good!" Rory said throwing her arms around his neck and smiling her snaggle-tooth smile. "I lost another tooth grandpa!" she said, pulling back and smiling, displaying her new gap in her teeth.  
  
"Well then! I hope the tooth fairy was good to you again!" he said standing up.  
"She was! I got two whole dollars!" Rory called as she skipped into the living room. Richard reached for Paige, who in return snuggled closer to Lorelai.  
"She was asleep. She's just tired. She'll warm up to you I promise." Lorelai said smoothing the little girl's hair.  
"And there's Christopher! Business going well I assume?" Richard said as Chris entered the house and closed the door behind him.  
"As good as can be expected." Chris replied, shaking Richard's hand.  
"Where's mom?" Lorelai asked, and as if on cue Emily appeared at the top of the stairs.  
"I'm here. Much thanks to you Richard for telling me they had arrived." She said with a haughty smile.  
  
"Well judging from the number of times the doorbell was rang in succession, I only assumed you realized it was Rory ringing the bell." Richard said following her into the living room.  
"Well dad, you know when you assume you make an ass out of..." Lorelai started, and received a sharp jab in the side from Chris. She shot him a look and then finished her thought with, "Never mind."  
  
"Well, are you two going to be able to stay or do you have reservations that you have to rush off to?" Emily asked, fixing herself a drink.  
"We can..." Lorelai said  
"Actually, we have reservations at Sardi's for 6:30 and tickets to see Rent after dinner...so we need to be going." Chris said over her, giving her a look.  
"Oh, Sardi's is a fine choice for dinner. Try the Chicken Julienne, it's fantastic." Richard said.  
"Well, if your reservations are at 6:30 you best scoot along. The girls will be fine, we're going to have a wonderful time." Emily said, ushering Lorelai and Chris to the door. Rory followed them and wrapped her arms around Chris's waist.  
  
"Bye Daddy." She said.  
"Bye Punkin." He replied, kissing her forehead and picking her up to hug her. Rory then moved onto Lorelai, who passed Paige to Chris.  
"You're gonna be good for Grandma right?" Lorelai asked, squatting down to Rory's level.  
"Of COURSE, mama. When am I NOT?" Rory asked with a perfect replication of her mother's eye roll.  
"Right. Just wanted to check. We'll call you when we get to the hotel tonight to say goodnight okay? I'm gonna miss you kiddo." Lorelai said hugging Rory tight.  
"I'm gonna miss you too." Rory said, squeezing Lorelai as hard as she could.  
"But it's only for two days and we'll be back to pick you up on Tuesday okay?" Lorelai said.  
"Okay." Rory replied. Lorelai and Chris both kissed the now sleeping Paige who was in Emily's arms and said goodbye to the elder Gilmore's.  
Chris and Lorelai got into the car and pulled out of the driveway.  
"Do we REALLY have reservations and tickets?" Lorelai asked.  
"Not yet." Chris said, pulling out his cell phone. 


End file.
